so i say right on, san francisco. [applause] [inaudible] [inaudible] >> -- cheney's growth without i was going to one of the armpits of the united states, but i ended up with my first job in richmond, virginia and my landlady, family to be, their last name was bugs and they were like the grandfather of the neighborhood. and so they had never met an asian before. in fact, one week and they invited their whole family to come see an asian and one of the relatives was disappointed because i was not wearing one of those ching dynasty cubes. when i told them i was in favor of cisco in europe here, the city made the city of san? [laughter] >> i'm so glad we have so many wonderful friends from the neighborhood here tonight. >> you spoke of the old-school irish americans who are here. is there anyone who was like a liaison between the old and the new that was sort of heroic? >> absolutely. in fact, as i said, i wanted to write a history of san francisco as dashiell hammett had written it. the opening of my books about the wond